Ever been mastered?

Well, I've been thinking about the old Burny guitar I picked up and generally trying to come-up with a plan for it.

From the start - it's a 1980s Japanese one, and is a solid mahogany neck and body, rosewood fretboard and generally has been stripped on the top without 'sympathy' The back of the body and neck are clipped and chunked - which I like - and I thought I'd try and do it as some kind of natural relic, if that makes sense.

Anyway, after the Golden Shower One, I quite fancy having another go at a gold-top, and so have ordered another ton of gold leaf - this time in a slightly different shade.

Similar plan though, just the top will get the treatment, but this time I'm thinking that I'll give it a nitro finish and then a year or so down the line when it has truly hardened, get the old compressed air and hairdryer out (OK, I don't own a hairdryer, no point when there is so little to play with), but anyway, I'll try and give it that cracking lacquer look which looks so pretty. For now though, a real gold top.

As for the rest of it, I quite fancy a double humbucker escapade with this one, with a bit of a Peter Green out-of-phase thing going on. I'm tempted by the Catswhisker PG set, or maybe the one from Shed or Bare Knuckle, but to be honest I'm happy enough flipping a magnet around myself so I'm not limited to the made to measure, so there is more scope on the pickups, which is maybe a bad thing. I do want something lower output though and 'classic' so probably Alnico 2, or one or whatever it was.

In terms of the tuners, I picked up some Gibson ones - Kluson style, which probably means they are Klusons with Gibson written on them, but a nice touch nonetheless.

Nut, my new found nutting skills will mean I'll get a bit of bone and cut my own, and as for the other bits - cream plastics and top hat knobs should do the trick.

Which only left the  wiring, which was what I wanted to mention really. You see, I quite fancied going fifties style - oil caps and shielded wires and all that, and so I thought I'd get a pre-made harness from somewhere.

Anyway, one of the best kept secrets in guitarville, is a quite excellent chap named Hugh who puts these sort of things together with some serious care, and after quite a weird and wonderful deal, I've ended-up with one of his - see the picture.

The caps are Russian - so probably from an authentic 1950s tank, certainly cold war anyway.

The pots and switch and everything else are top quality and the wiring is poetically simple. I can't wait to plum it in, it has to be said.

So that's the plan. No doubt pickups will be the stumbling block, but there we are.

p.s. If you are in the market for a wiring harness - give me the nod and I'll introduce you to the maestro himself.. and we'll say no more about it *sniff*